Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said Wednesday that his government would like to withdraw Nigerian troops from Sierra Leone and Liberia but also wanted to avoid jeopardising the security of the two nations.
“What we want to do is get Nigerian troops out as quickly as possible without threatening the security of Sierra Leone and Liberia,” Obasanjo told a news conference in Johannesburg.
“I believe that peace should involve more dialogue than force,” added Obasanjo, who travelled to South Africa to attend Wednesday’s inauguration of President-elect Thabo Mbeki.
Nigerians form the bulk of ECOMOG (Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group) peacekeepers in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Earlier this week, Sierra Leonean President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah was reported by news media as saying that the ECOMOG peacekeepers would stay in the country for as long as possible.
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